Miss Dewey Sucks

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

I want to talk about marketing production quality and how Miss Dewey lacks it. If you haven’t seen this site yet, it’s basically a search engine with a saucy librarian standing there being snarky and clever on occasion. If you don’t get around to typing in a search she’ll try to get your attention.

Quite annoying, really.

Does this novelty attract anyone? Sure. For the first visit. Do people come back again and again? No effing way.

Why not?

Humor works sparingly

Humor, as a marketing tool, gets old very quickly. Some people can execute humor extremely well. They end up making Miller Lite Commercials. But, do you see the same funny commercial more than once or twice during a football game? No way. The humor wears off and people become annoyed. Think of the Superbowl Commercials that get reused dozens of times for weeks after the game. You start to hate them pretty quickly.

The same goes for Dewey. She’ll grab a lot of quick attention but there’s no reason for me to go back and hear the same five witticisms on loop.

Quality over novelty

Here’s a fun bonus: turn up your volume when she begins talking and listen closely. You can hear the producers in the background (‘and… action’). They even talk to her (‘show me some more pouty… aw…’). How many people ignored that? That seems like a big oversight on someone’s part. I’d be embarrassed to put something like that on the web.

Sure, the site probably didn’t take much time to make. Unfortunately, it shows. I think this is a pretty simplistic attempt at something ‘viral’ and so far it’s worked. But who did this, and why would they?

How to improve

Raise your hand if you enjoy Clippy.

Anyone with marketing sense would realize this is a terrible idea. First, where’s the value-added? It’s a talking search box on loop. Personally, I’d make her a lot more inappropriate. Suddenly an annoying gimmick becomes entertainment. That’s better execution. Godaddy used it and it seemed to work for them.

EVB messed up

This surprises me: after some quick research the company behind this site is EVB. They’ve made some great stuff and were even honored at SXSW for their work. EVB claims to “deliver entertaining and engaging content that connects with consumers” but I don’t see it in this site. I see an attempt to deliver something more personal (someone talking to me) and dynamic (my input or lack thereof initiates action from her).